Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments: November 2007

Yellowstone research conducted by astrobiologists from NAI's new Montana State Team is highlighted in the new 30-minute film called "Invisible Yellowstone," produced by MSU's Thermal Biology Institute and MSU's Science and Natural History filmmaking program. Footage from the film was featured in an episode of National Geographic's Wild Chronicles television program, which can be previewed by visiting the TBI webpage: http://www.tbi.montana.edu/media/movieclips.html, and selecting #2 TBI Wild Chronicles. It is also available via DVD by contacting Susan Kelly at susank@montana.edu.

With support from NAI Teams at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and UC Berkeley, researchers at the American Type Culture Collection and their colleagues have a new paper in PLOS One describing a novel lineage of proteobacteria which are dominant in iron-rich hydrothermal vent sites on the Loihi Seamount near Hawai'i. They form a unique morphological structure which could serve as a fossil biomarker.